Protector
by Incurable Romantic
Summary: Yet another Harry/Ginny. Harry is attacked once more by Voldemort. Ginny manages to fend him off and bring him back to the school. It's really a short character development fic. It's not too bad. You might as well read it, it won't take long.


Protector by Incurable Romantic  
  
"Harry! Haaaaaarry! NOOOOOOOO!"  
  
I saw him fall, beaten, to his knees. I saw that foul creature raise his wand in triumph. I saw him point it at the boy I loved. And I went berserk. I launched myself at him, forgetting my wand, and even forgetting for the moment that this was the monster that had killed dozens of people without a thought. All I knew was that he was threatening my man- you know… animal instinct and all that.  
  
I would've had him too. His throat was in my hands, his wand under my foot, but he disapparated. I forgot about him the moment he was gone.  
  
"Harry? Harry wake up!"  
  
I shook him, needing to see him look at me- needing to know he was alive. I wasn't sure you see what exactly that creature had done to him. Then he opened his eyes. I sobbed in joy.  
  
"Oh Harry!"  
  
I pulled him to me and then to his feet.  
  
"We're not safe here Harry, he could be back any minute. We need to get back into the grounds."  
  
I don't think he trusted himself to speak; he just nodded. I pulled his arm around me and pulled him towards the school- just visible in the failing light. We got about sixty yards before he faltered.  
  
"Harry?"  
  
"I'm fine," he wheezed.  
  
"Bull shit." My voice was final- it surprised even me.  
  
"I can do this," he said a moment later.  
  
I said nothing, just continued to pull him towards Hogwarts. It seemed as though hours had passed before we reached the stairs. He was breathing heavily by then.  
  
"Not much farther Harry."  
  
I saw him nod out of the corner of my eye. He was pale, too pale. I was scared, even more scared now then I was when I'd seen him fall, because now I had time to be scared.  
  
"Mr. Potter!"  
  
It was McGonagal, good. Now Harry would get some help. It wouldn't be from me, but then… did it ever come from me? I handed him off to the three other teachers that had run up at the deputy headmistress's scream. And I swayed; Professor Sinistra caught me before I hit the ground. Maybe I had overdone it a bit…  
  
* * *  
  
I woke up in the hospital wing. There was a curtain separating my bed from the one next to me. I got up and peeked behind it. Just as I thought, there was Harry. He looked much better, not nearly so pale as before. I jumped back into bed when I heard someone moving around, but judging from the look Madame Pomfrey gave me she wasn't fooled.  
  
"How's Harry?"  
  
Always the first thing out of my mouth right? I probably should have asked about myself first, but it wasn't like there was anyone in the school who didn't know what I felt for this dark-haired boy. Well… perhaps some of the first-years, but they'd only been here for a few months- they'd learn quick enough.  
  
"Actually dear… I wanted to ask you about that. Do you know what happened to him? He's not responding to anything we've done."  
  
"What? But he looks so much better."  
  
I was afraid again. Not responding to anything, why? I knew Madame could fix people up even better than Mum could.  
  
"We can't wake him up. To tell the truth, we couldn't wake you up at first either."  
  
"Oh."  
  
There wasn't a whole lot I could say to that one.  
  
"We're hoping he'll just snap out of it like you seem to have done. But it would help if you could give us some details."  
  
Madame Pomfrey's voice was calm and rational, as it always was.  
  
"Well… it was Voldemort."  
  
My voice was calm and she didn't flinch. That was yet another sign of how bad things had gotten in only a few short months, few people in the school flinched at his name anymore. They just didn't see the point.  
  
"Oh dear, but why isn't Harry dead? What did he do to him?"  
  
"I'm… I'm not sure what he did. I didn't hear what he muttered, but Harry just fell over."  
  
"Didn't Voldemort try and kill him?"  
  
"He… er, tried yes."  
  
I was starting to blush a little.  
  
"Tried?"  
  
"I… I stopped him."  
  
I said this quietly, hoping that Madame Pomfrey would extend the favor, no such luck…  
  
"You stopped the Dark Lord?!"  
  
"Er… yeah."  
  
"How in the world did you do that?!"  
  
"I… sort of… knocked him over… and er… tried to strangle him while keeping my foot over his wand arm… he er… disapparated."  
  
Madame Pomfrey sat heavily at the edge of my bed.  
  
"You know… there are a handful of people in the world who have fought Voldemort face-to-face and survived. Two of them are in this room."  
  
She seemed rather shocked. I tentatively placed my hand on her shoulder. She swept me up into a tight hug.  
  
"Oh you brave brave girl!"  
  
"Poppy?"  
  
Dumbledore had come in.  
  
"Poppy, is Harry awake yet?"  
  
"I am now Professor," said a voice.  
  
"Harry!"  
  
All three of us had said it, but I said it loudest. And then I ran to the curtain, ripped it aside and stared down into his face.  
  
"Hello Ginny."  
  
I blushed.  
  
Well obviously I blushed, he had said my name for goodness sake, of course I blushed. He was looking around with an air of confusion.  
  
"So… I'm not dead?"  
  
"Oh Harry."  
  
I sort of well… threw myself at him. His arms came up to steady me as I sobbed into his chest. Yeah yeah, I know, all very melodramatic, but I felt I deserved at least this much- I had after all saved his life.  
  
"Shhh, it'll be okay Ginny."  
  
It intrigued me, the words he used. He did say it was okay, like most people would've. It seemed to me as if he couldn't bring himself to lie to me, to tell me that everything was fine when we both knew it wasn't, but that it will be in the future.  
  
"Are you okay Harry?"  
  
He looked perplexed.  
  
"I… think so?"  
  
"You don't know?"  
  
It was a reflex, from childhood- answer a question with a question. I didn't feel quite so stupid a minute later when something that could've been a smile appeared on his face. If I had been standing I would have scrapped my toes along the ground in that classic gesture of girlish modesty. That's when I realized I was still draped over him…  
  
"Sorry."  
  
You could've cooked breakfast for the entire Weasley family on my flaming cheeks.  
  
"No problem Gin."  
  
Gin? Since when did he call me Gin? Perhaps since you saved his life, whispered that part of me that I often wish didn't exist. I turned to Dumbledore.  
  
"Did you catch him?"  
  
It was a naïve question, I knew that, but I still had to ask. I didn't need to hear an answer though, since I knew it already. Dumbledore was kind enough not to say anything.  
  
"How'd he get in here?"  
  
It was Harry and there was ice in his voice. Back to being the savior of the wizarding world then. He seemed to be two completely different people at times, the normal sixteen-year old boy and the Boy-Who-Lived, with capital letters and all. He was in the second category now.  
  
"You were out of bounds Harry."  
  
"Not according to my map."  
  
The frost in both of their voices made me shiver.  
  
"What I can't understand Mr. Potter is why Ms. Weasley was with you- though it was lucky she was."  
  
"Stop both of you!"  
  
I shouted at both of them; they were acting so stupid. Those two had always been so close and now they were spitting at each other like cats. That was another of the horrors of Voldemort, how he broke up friendships just with his presence.  
  
"What does it matter how it happened? It did and now we have other problems to deal with, like the fate of the world!"  
  
Where was all this melodrama coming from?  
  
"Listen! People are dying out there and all you two can do is bicker about how it happened! Harry's not dead, I'm not dead, but you know what? Neither is Voldemort!"  
  
All three of them stared at me, but I narrowed my focus at Professor Dumbledore.  
  
"Ms. Weasley is right. I apologize Harry. I've just been so worried about you."  
  
And to my shock and to Harry's, judging by the look on his face, Dumbledore swept him up into a fatherly hug. I heard a choking sound- he was crying? That rattled me more than anything else had that day. I realized too that tears were streaming down my cheeks as well.  
  
"I'm sorry too Professor."  
  
My heart went out to Harry as he said those words. But then again… when did my heart not go out to Harry?  
  
"Good can I finish examining my patients Professor?"  
  
Even Madame Pomfrey's voice was cold. I managed to control my temper this time, but just barely.  
  
"Very well."  
  
Dumbledore left and the atmosphere warmed a bit. The stress must be getting to him, I decided. My heart went out to him also. I was sometimes surprised that I kept my heart in my chest at all, considering the number of times it's gone out to people.  
  
Hours later Madame Pomfrey said we could leave and we breathed a sigh of relief as soon as we were out the door.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"For what Harry?"  
  
I was amazed, not a touch of heat in my cheeks. Good job!  
  
"You did save my life you know."  
  
I acknowledged the gratitude with a small smile.  
  
"You are feeling okay right? It was strange that Madame Pomfrey couldn't figure out what he'd done to you."  
  
He shrugged.  
  
"No it's not Gin. He's evil, I would hope that Madame Pomfrey wouldn't know all that he can do."  
  
I started shaking. It was too much, his calm acceptance on top of everything else that day. Harry stopped and looked at me.  
  
"Shit, I'm sorry Ginny… I didn't think. Please, stop shaking, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."  
  
He patted my shoulder gently. I had to resist the urge to grab his shirt and pull him closer to me. I simply couldn't be that selfish. I laboriously gained control of my shaking.  
  
"I'm sorry Harry. I didn't mean to be so… weak."  
  
Harry drew in a breath as if something pained him. Then he did the last thing I was expecting from him- he pulled me into a tight hug.  
  
"Never be sorry to show fear Gin. Not in front of me, please, so often people hide their emotions from me. Ever since… since Cedric… they haven't… It's as if I don't belong in the same world they do."  
  
I wrapped my arms around him tighter as if he was the only steady thing in my life, and he very well might have been at that moment. So he was still beating himself up about Cedric's death. It hadn't been the last death he'd seen in the last eighteen months, but it had been the first and the one most directly connected to his actions.  
  
"If that's what you want Harry, I will always show you when I'm afraid. You'll soon get tired of it though; I'm afraid a lot.  
  
"I'll protect you, my little Gin."  
  
Had I heard those words right? His face was pressed into my hair, so it could have been something totally different and had only been twisted by my lonely soul into something that I had been yearning to hear for years.  
  
"And I'll protect you."  
  
It was said quietly, but I could feel him tense and so I knew he had heard it.  
  
"Damn good thing too."  
  
He pulled back than and looked into my face. I looked at him, trying to decipher his expression. I had no idea what was going on behind those round black glasses of his, but it didn't matter. There was a warm feeling flowing through me just standing in the circle of his arms. I squeezed him once more around the neck and let go. I turned away from him then, not one of the easiest thing I'd ever done, and walked back up to Gryffindor Tower.  
  
  
  
Fin  
  
Author's notes- Harry Potter is not mine, but then you all know that already. (Or at least so I'd hope…) There is a reason, and a good one, why you are left wondering why Harry and Ginny were out-of-bounds. I just don't feel like explaining it to you. And as this is a fluff piece more than anything else, well… it's not really needed for the story. 


End file.
